In the hours leading up to a massive gas pipeline explosion in San Bruno, Pacific Gas & Electric Corp. published a press release lauding its sustainability practices.
PG&E was added to the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes, which are investment products that include shares in companies judged to lead their industries in economic, social and environmental performance, the company said in the Sept. 9 statement.
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A polluting power plant was shut down this month, but it was switched on again after a massive electrical cable failed.
The Potrero Power Plant’s main generator will be switched off permanently once the $505 million Trans Bay Cable, which connects Pittsburg with The City, is running reliably.
Backup generators will be switched off, and the waterfront land will be redeveloped. But the cable has been plagued with problems.
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A controversial bridge planned for the redeveloped Hunters Point shipyard has spurred a lawsuit by environmentalists.
The City has approved plans for the former naval land and adjacent Candlestick Point that will ultimately contain 10,500 residential units as well as 320 acres of park and open space and 700,000 square feet of retail and entertainment space.
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Sylvie Lee, a California Coastal Commission communications official, is accepting applications for the 12th annual Amateur Coastal Photography Contest, which offers hotel stays as prizes, until Aug. 31. Categories include the scenic coast, the ways people use the coast and coastal wildlife.
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A symbolic “dumb meter” is planned to be handed Thursday to a Pacific Gas & Electric Corp. executive to protest the company’s deployment of controversial “smart meters.”
PG&E Chief Executive Peter Darbee is scheduled to speak Thursday afternoon at the California Public Utilities Commission headquarters.
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The discovery of a plant long thought to be extinct led to the cultivation of cloned specimens and kick-started up to a year of federal research.
A botanist spotted a Franciscan manzanita growing in October in an area that was being cleared to make way for the Doyle Drive construction project.
The species was thought to be extinct in the wild for more than 70 years, although cultivated specimens are grown by botanists and gardeners.
The hefty plant and tons of soil around its roots were replanted in a protected Presidio location at a cost of roughly $175,000.
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Thousands of bus passengers arriving in downtown San Francisco on Monday morning will be deposited in and around a congested and potentially confusing new outdoor bus terminal.
The dreary Transbay Transit Terminal, which was built in the 1930s as a train station before being converted in 1959 to a cavernous bus stop, will be replaced with a multimodal station for buses and trains.
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City residents are landing more construction jobs on San Francisco Redevelopment Agency projects, but union practices still keep some from working.
The City and the Redevelopment Agency, a state bureau that oversees massive building efforts, aim to provide half the work on construction projects to San Francisco residents.
But those goals are rarely achieved, prompting some activists and politicians to push for a law that would fine contractors when city residents perform less than half the work on a locally funded project.
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Mold infested civic and private buildings after rainwater leaked for years through a flawed joint in the Metreon.
The building in the South of Market neighborhood was designed as a kingdom for gamers, but it now languishes with a large vacancy rate and an identity crisis.
Plans to turn the hulking building into an eating destination failed recently, and the latest rejuvenation efforts rely on attracting large retail tenants such as Target.
The building’s mold problem dates to its construction in the late 1990s, when a long expansion joint was installed.
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While unemployed San Franciscans struggle to pay for food, rent and education, construction jobs on city-funded projects are overwhelmingly being filled by residents of other cities.
A city-funded analysis of San Francisco data related to 29 city-backed projects found that more than three out of every four hours of construction work were performed by someone from out of town.
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Vegetable oil will be injected into the ground at the site of a former lock factory in Visitacion Valley during the coming month as the land is prepared for redevelopment.
The Schlage Lock Factory shuttered in 1999 and was recently demolished. The site is now at the heart of a planned 46-acre redevelopment project that could eventually become home to a community of 6,000 residents.
Efforts to remove groundwater contamination from the polluted site began earlier this year.
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Long-lost forms of family-focused entertainment are slated to replace adult-video screenings in a historic Tenderloin neighborhood building.
Theater professionals plan to convert the 88-year-old building at 80 Turk St. into a 99-seat venue featuring circus acts, burlesque, ventriloquism, juggling, puppetry and other performances popular in bygone eras.
Programming would emphasize entertainment, training and mentorship for Tenderloin youths.
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Plans to build, modify and demolish buildings and other structures on Treasure Island and Yerba Buena Island are scheduled to be discussed this week by The City’s historic preservation advisers.
The islands feature structures that were built by the military and in advance of the 1939 World’s Fair.
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Bruce Blair, the cofounder of Global Zero, coproduced "Countdown to Zero," a documentary currently screening at the Embarcadero Center Cinema and Shattuck Cinemas in Berkeley.What is Global Zero? It’s an international nonpartisan movement pressing world leaders for a binding international agreement to reduce in stages [the number of] all nuclear weapons to zero over the next two decades.
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Plans to nearly triple the number of rental units at Parkmerced will be discussed Monday by city lawmakers and officials.
The expansion from 3,221 to 8,900 apartments is expected to increase the rental community’s population by more than 10,000 residents and place new pressures on transit services.
Supervisor Sean Elsbernd, whose district includes Parkmerced, requested a hearing regarding the plans.
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URL: http://www.sfexaminer.com/people/john-upton
